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AN  ADDKESS, 


DELIVERED   BY 


MAJOB-GENERAL  fl,  P,  BANKS, 


CUSTOM-HOUSE,   NEW-OELEAIsTS, 


FOURTH  OF  JULY,   1865. 


HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 
1865. 


GENERAL   BAKKS'S   ADDRESS. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  Were  it  not  for  the  sudden  and  spon- 
taneous character  of  the  assenTbly^n  whostTpresence  rilahd, 
I  sEouldTmpIore  your  charity^for  the^parTT^m-called  upon 
to  perform! 
this  occasion. 

ti('ftT"a.fi7r-nfl.rfl.Tinfn7iTt.  TritayBit.K-  ^f  t^Tpl^nTrnfr^wAlrtvft  amttionor, 

tiny. 


o  desire"  Tor  rhetorical  display~mrrmatei§-sie  on 
TaddreslTmyself  to  the  consideration  oftEe"pra6- 


an 


to  problems  indisso-lu-bly  connected  wit 

Since  the  salvation  of  the  family  of  man  was^vouchsafed  to 
us  by  the  providence  of  God,  no  anniversary  has  occurred  of 
greater  import  t,Q  the  human_xace  jthan  the  daywe  celebrate. 

A  little  more  than  two  centuries  since  a  small  band  of  un- 
known~menriandTTTg^  upo^~g'^gBIm"enjwhiclrwas~to~  them  as 

ment  whose  flag  is  now  honored  in  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe,  and  whose  example  and  principles  must  influence  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  present  and  to  come. 

It  differed  not  much  in  form  or  power  from  that  which  its 
authors  had  abandoned.  It  had  the  same  inspiration,  the 
same  agencies,  the  same  despotic  power  to  protect  itself  and 
vindicate  its  rights  within  and  beyond  its  limits,  which  other 
nations  before  and  since  enjoyed. 

But  in  one  aspect  it  differed  from  all  others.  It  was  a  gov- 
ernment deriving  its  authority  from  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned, under  which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  at  least,  all  men 
were  free  and  equal.  So  far  as  it  was  within  the  power  of 


men  actmgunder  the  circumstances  that 
theJatners 


achieved  their  object 


Their  ^decree  was  not  absolute,  instantaneous  or  universal. 
In  some  respects  it  was  halting  and  partial.    But  their  great 

550620 


4  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

purpose  was  manifested  in  theJDeclaration  of  _Independence? 
aTfcTBy  the~ho  lessexpressive  silence  of  the  Constitution  upon 
all  topics  that  were  in  apparent  contradiction  of  its  theories. 
,  guided  by 


bv  their  example,  this  day,  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1865,  to  de- 

—i7  _  JL  *  v    *__  -      .  _  _ 

clareTTn7l3igiEregeftee-i3f  "trod  andbeKre~Tnen,  that  the  sub- 

-—  —  —  J—  —  -*^  *^*-s^__  ______  ^^    ^  _    _       _  ^2-^     ^  —  •^—  -^_» 

lime  purpose  of  our  fathers  has  been  consummated,  and  that  in 
theory  and  in  fact,  all  Americans  are  free  and  equal. 

It  ir^oTyeTahundred  years  since  the  first  blow  in  the 
great  war  just  now  completed,  was  struck  at  Lexington  and 
Concord.  The  men  who  fell  upon  the  village  green  of  Lex- 
ingtei^^ad^at_oldL_CojLCor3^Brldge-4Br-X:II&,  likejthose  who 
have  fallen  in  the  bloody  battles  of  the  past  four  years,  suf- 
fered ]rirT3i(F~eluisiroT"~IZ^  of 

men. 

Greece  existed  twelve  hundred  and  Rome  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years.  Our  Republic  has  not  yet  completed  its  first  cen- 
tury. Another  decennial  period  must  pass,  with  all  its  respon- 
sibilities, before  we  can  say  a  century  is  finished.  But  in  this 
period  of  ninety  years  the  American  Union  has  accomplished 
more  in  the  work  of  true  civilization  than  has  been  exhibited  in 
the  progress  of  centuries  of  Egyptian,  Greek  or  Roman  civiliz- 
ation. There  may  be  less  of  the  stupendous  and  useless  monu- 
ments of  individual  labor,  less  of  art,  less  of  affluence,  but  in 
the  elevation  of  man  and  the  subordination  of  political  insti- 
tutions to  just  purposes,  the  great  object  of  true  civilization, 
we  have  in  a  century  accomplished  more  than  any  nation  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  May  we  not  find  in  this  success  an 
augury  of  what  may  be  achieved  in  future  by  the  same  intelli- 
gence, the  same  devotion  to  the  principles  of  political  justice,  — 
if  it  so  be,  that  Almighty  God,  in  his  wise  and  just  provi- 
dence shall  vouchsafe  to  us  the  preservation  of  our  country 
and  the  perpetuation  of  its  liberties  ! 

Let  us  glance  at  the  results  already  attained.  Three  million 
people  have  become  thirty  millions.  The  few  scattered  set- 
tlers of  the  Atlantic  coast  have  passed  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, ascended  and  descended  the  Ozark  and  Rocky  Moun- 
tains of  the  "West  and  opened  the  golden  gates  of  California 
to  the  commerce  of  the  eastern  world. 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS.  5 

"We  won  our  independence  against  a  power  to  which,  as 
Webster  said,  Rome  in  her  days  of  glory  was  unequal,  whose 
morning  drum-beat,  "  following  the  sun  and  keeping  company 
with  the  hours,  encircled  the  earth  daily  with  one  continuous 
strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England."  "We  met  the  first  mari- 
time power  of  the  world  on  the  sea,  and  the  flag  of  the  British 
Lion  was  lowered  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Under  circum- 
stances that  might  have  overwhelmed  a  nation  of  less  vivacity 
and  power  than  ours,  we  vindicated  the  asserted  rights  of  our 
Government  in  Mexico.  To-day  we  celebrate  the  triumph  of 
our  countrymen  at  Yicksburgh,  at  Port  Hudson,  and  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Father  of  Waters.  "We  re- 
call with  emotion — let  me  say  with  profound  emotions  of 
gratitude — gratitude  to  them  and  gratitude  to  God — the 
names  of  Grant  of  the  army,  Farragut  of  the  navy,  and  their 
heroic  officers,  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  have  triumphed  in  the 
bloody  contests  of  Maryland,  Virginia,  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Georgia  and  the  sis- 
ter Carolinas.  Where  upon  the  record  of  human  heroism, 
monumental  or  otherwise,  in  the  struggles  of  man  against 
man,  of  armed  host  against  armed  host,  shall  we  find  such 
prowess,  such  endurance,  such  devotion,  ay,  with  gratitude 
let  it  be  said,  such  success  as  they  have  given  to  us  and  to 
liberty  ?  We  have  crushed,  we  hope  forever,  a  conspiracy  and 
rebellion  against  the  liberties  of  the  people,  against  republican 
institutions,  against  a  government  such  as  no  other  nation  or 
age  has  known,  which  was  without  parallel  in  its  conception, 
consequences  or  conclusion,  unless  it  be  in  that  portrayed  by 
Milton  between  the  demons  of  darkness  and  the  angels  of  light 
in  the  conspiracy  against  the  government  of  God. 

Now  that  our  work  is  finished,  we  recur  with  amazement 
to  the  inherent  strength  of  Democratic  institutions ;  to  the  al- 
most exhaustless  credit  by  which  our  struggle  has  been  main- 
tained ;  to  the  magnitude  of  the  Christian  charities  organized 
by  the  women  of  the  country  for  the  support  of  the  heroic  sol- 
diers and  sailors ;  to  the  unswerving  faith  and  loyalty  of  all 
classes  of  people,  and  especially  to  the  fact  that  in  a  country 
which  has  mainly  discouraged  military  preparations  and  study, 
the  Government  has  been  able  to  summon  its  defenders  to  the 


6  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

field,  to  the  number  of  a  million,  who  rose  from  the  ranks 
of  the  people,  instructed  and  armed,  as  the  fabled  goddess  of 
wisdom  and  war  sprang  from  the  brain  of  Jove.  In  civil  pur- 
suits we  have  left  our  impress  upon  the  world.  Mechanical 
invention  and  the  fertility  of  our  soil  have  given  us  a  surfeit 
of  product  and  of  wealth.  The  telegraph  has  coupled  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Hemispheres.  We  have  democratized 
literature.  The  Church  carries  the  Bible  to  every  person 
within  the  control  of  our  Government,  not  with  an  enforced 
interpretation  of  caste  or  sect,  but  with  the  light,  intelligence 
and  inspiration  which  God  has  given  to  the  lowly  as  well  as 
to  the  learned  in  the  interpretation  of  his  works. 

We  did  not  enter  upon  this  struggle  as  other  nations  might 
have  done,  for~tTie~l)enefit  of  a  governing  class,  the  profit  of 

rt        *    •  •  i       ,  .  i  .  •        "~"~     Jl      i         I,  i  i  T,  /»  j_1  1  *1_ 

TQTm  1 1  OC     /%!•    TTl  JJ    TTPHCiOt*T'1Q  T1  f\T\     f\T     fi  "\TT"I  O  CTT  i±C         "   "l  r     TTT  Q  Q    T/Yf*    T  fl  O     1 1  i\OT* 

icllillllcr5  Ul    tile  pltJbtfl  \  d/LIUil  UI  U.\  JldoLIcB.        -L L    \V  cla  1UJL    Lilt?  llUtJl" 


_ 

tielTof  LhelvEoIepeople.  forJ^  prpgprvafJQnjjj^a  government 
of  unsurpassed  excellence,jwhere  the  liberties  of  the  people 
wereTrecognized  and  established. 

CiviTwars  have^  desolated  other  countries.  England  and 
France,  Italy  and  Spain  and  other  nations  have  been  rent 
asunder  by  such  revolutions.  But  as  the  stormy  clouds  of 
contest  passed  away,  the  people  settled  down  in  peace  as 
before — the  Republican  with  the  Royalist,  the  Cavalier  with 
the  Roundhead,  the  Bourbon  with  the  Bonaparte,  the  Protes- 
tant with  the  Catholic,  the  Tartar  with  the  Turk.  There  is 
no  record  of  a  nation  that  has  perished  from  civil  war  alone, 
or  that  has  not  risen  when  the  fell  spirit  of  fratricidal  strife 
has  been  curbed,  to  increased  prosperity  and  power !  From 
this  we  may  be  assured  that  our  own  brief  but  awful  contest 
may  be  followed  by  permanent  peace.  It  has  been  vouchsafed 
to  others;  why  not  to  us?  "THE  NORTH  AND  THE  SOUTH, 

THOU  HAST  CREATED  THEM:  TABOE  AND  HERMOX  SHALL  RE- 
JOICE IN  THY  •  NAME."  (Psalm  89:12.) 

I  should  do  injustice  to  the  occasion,  however,  did  not  I 
recognize  the  elements  of  public  danger  that  surround  us.  It 
is  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  discard  considerations  of  public 
peril.  We  may  well  adopt  the  language  of  Cato  to  the 
Roman  Senate:  "When  Caesar  says  there  is  no  cause  of 
fear,  Rome  has  cause  to  fear  Csesar."  Whoever  asserts  that 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS.  7 

Americans  have  nothing  to  fear,  America  has  cause  to  fear 
him.  I  vcherish  the  belief  that  we  have  within  us  the  capa- 
city to  conquer  aEjifficultie^ptxr^tv^4-all-d«Tigers ;  that  our 
people  may  be  led  under  the  guidance  of  the  prmcipIelToflSur 
fathers  to  prosperity  and  power,  of  which  we  can  Eave^yeTTSuT 
an  imperfect  conceptionT^The  trlum^h~s'~bf  armies  do~~not 
constitute  the  highesT  Iiohor  or  the  noBIest  servicejiiflt.  -men 
argnaHe3H3jgDn~  te^jejLJlajaEidBg^^  re- 

nowned than  war.  The  capacity  requisite  for  wise  civil  gov- 
ernment ancTthe  full  development  of  the  arts  of  peace,  is  not 
less  rare  and  the  dangers  which  it  encounters  not  less  compli- 
cated than  those  which  surround  the  most  successful  or  the 
greatest  chieftain.  Napoleon,  the  first  of  rulers  as  of  warriors, 
in  the  crisis  of  his  destiny,  complained  that  men  called  him  a 
great  captain.  He  said  :  "  I  am  an  administrator."  He  felt 
there  was  a  higher  and  nobler  mission  than  that  of  leading 
armies  through  seas  of  blood  to  the  throne  of  empire.  The 
gallant  soldiers  and  sailors  who  have  maintained  our  honor 
have  not  accomplished  all  that  the  safety  of  the  nation  de 
mands.  We  look  to  them  also  for  an  enlightened  spirit  of 
self-government.  "We  ask  that  the  concentrated  intellect,  the 
great  heart  of  the  people,  the  councils  of  the  nation,  in  the 
perils  still  before  us,  may  be  guided  by  greater  than  human 
wisdom  to  a  higher  than  human  success. 

We  have  large  armies  to  disband — armies  composed  of  men 
hastily  summoned  from  every  pursuit  and  condition  of  life, 
that  are  inured  to  the  fatigues  of  the  field,  accustomed  to  its 
perils,  and  fascinated  by  the  varied  excitements  of  military 
life.  Can  they  return  to  calmer  pursuits  upon  the  sudden  but 
thrice-welcome  sound  of  peace  ?  What  example  has  history 
furnished  of  the  peaceful  and  voluntary  dissolution  of  an  army 
of  such  colossal  dimensions  ?  Yet  how  confident  is  our  assur- 
ance that  the  citizen  soldiers  who  here  and  elsewhere  recall 
the  great  memories  of  this  day  and  celebrate  the  sudden  and 
grateful  close  of  our  national  contest,  will  pass  from  the  camp 
to  the  fields  of  peaceful  labor,  the  farm,  the  counting-house, 
the  machine-shop,  the  halls  of  justice  or  legislation  and  the 
'  pulpit,  without  reluctance  or  dissension,  or  even  an  apparent 
sacrifice  of  the  sense  of  honor  or  personal  pride  !  As  the  dew 


8  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

disappears  before  the  morning  sun,  so  at  the  call  of  peace  the 
victorious  American  soldier  grounds  his  musket  and  resumes 
the  service  which  he  knew  and  honored  before  he  was  called 
to  the  field  of  battle.  Yerily,  we  have  seen  spears  turned  to 
pruning  hooks,  swords  to  plow-shares,  and  the  lion  exchange 
natures  with  the  lamb. 

Th^  gigantic  national  debt  that  the  war  has  created  will  be 
as  straw  in  flame,  as  chaff  before  the  wind,  if  we  are  left  to 
the  peaceful  development  of  the  industry  of  our  country. 
The  same  energy  that  has  carried  us  successfully  through  the 
war  will  relieve  us  from  the  doubt,  despondency,  inactivity, 
oppressive  taxation  and  financial  distress  which  often  attend 
national  convulsions. 

The  undeveloped  wealth  of  our  fertile  lands,  of  which  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  acres_Jiejg.nproductive  and  fallow,  with 
the  glcT^tEat  now^resfsupon  the  genius  ofj)ujllnstitgtions, 


will  summon TtcToTir  aid  fromtheOld  "World  youth,  energy, 
capacity,  and  ambition,  and  th^jnventive  genius^  of  our  own 
countrymen  will  supply  such  assistance-  a&  mechanical  power 
can  impart  to  the  sinews  and  sense  of  compensated  industry. 
If  peace  is  maintained,  the  capacity  of  the  country  for  the 
production  of  wealth  will  be  tested  for  the  first  time.  The 
four  thousand  millions  of  public  debt  can  be  extinguished 
within  this  century  from  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  alone, 
without  oppressive  burden  upon  existing  sources  of  wealth  or 
the  disturbance  of  the  elements  of  prosperity  that  heretofore 
have  contributed  to  our  power,  limiting  our  exactions  to  the 
new  products  which  genius,  enterprise  and  industry  can  bring 
forth,  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  men  and  replenish  the  exhaust- 
ed coffers  of  the  treasury. 

"We  have  now  to  meet  for  the_first  time  in  a  practical  form 
international  questions  connected  with  systems  of  govern- 
menFonrthe  NortlrjJn^rieaargpnllnenk When  the  Fathers  of 
our  Independence  founded  their  infant  colonies,  they  rendered 
solemn  thanks  to  Almighty  God  that  a  sea  three  thousand 
miles  in  breadth  rolled  between  them  and  the  Old  "World. 
Some  of  them  wished  it  had  been  an  ocean  of  flame.  It  was 
because  they  rested  here  in  peace,  undisturbed  by  monarch- 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS.  9 

ical  traditions  and  interests,  with  a  disposition  and  opportunity 
to  test  their  own  ideas  by  practical  experiment  in  legislation 
and  government,  that  we  have  come  to  the  inheritance  of 
their  glory  and  our  prosperity  and  freedom.  For  nearly  a 
hundred  years  the  desire  of  our  fathers  to  remain  undisturbed 
by  other  empires  or  dynasties  has  been  respected  by  foreign 
agents  and  constantly  asserted  by  ours.  But  the  difficulties 
iii  which  we  have  recently  been  involved,  and  from  which  we 
are,  thank  God !  partially  delivered,  has  called  the  attention 
of  other  nations  to  the  political  importance  of  the  grand  com- 
mercial possessions  of  this  continent.  -We  were  interested  ob- 
servers not  long  since,  of  the  combination  of  three  potential 
foreign  states,  not  as  heretofore  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
existing  European  possessions,  but  of  controlling  the  policy  of 
a  weak,  unoffending  nation  upon  our  borders.  From  its  in- 
herent difficulties  that  combination  failed.  We  now  see  an 
imperial  and  hostile — or  if  not  hostile — a  strange  flag  floating 
over  that  nation.  We  assert  with  sadness  as  well  as  deter 
mination  the  well-grounded  belief  of  our  fathers,  that  the  in- 
tervention of  foreign  nations  on  this  continent  will  be  the  pre- 
lude of  international  entanglements  which  we  were  admon- 
ished by  them  to  avoid,  if  not  the  signal  for  the  overthrow  of 
republican  institutions  and  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of 
our  people.  In  this  belief  we  have  been  educated ;  with  the 
defense  of  this  tradition  we  have  been  intrusted ;  and  we  say 
to  them  now,  as  our  fathers  said  in  other  days :  The  American, 
continent  is  for  Americans  !  "We-  will  recognize  no  interven- 
tion that  perils  our  institutions  or  the  liberty  we  inherit.  The 
rights  which  other  nations  have  acquired  by  conquest  or  pur- 
chase coincident  with  our  own,  we  honor  and  respect,  but 
that  possession  which  derives  its  being  from  the  terrible  strug- 
gles of  unavoidable  fratricidal  war,  will  not  be  regarded  when 
we  escape  our  sorrows  and  return  to  power.  The  nation  was. 
cradled  in  this  doctrine.  It  was  announced  by  Jefferson  in: 
17S6  ;  officially  promulgated  by  President  Monroe  in  1824,, 
without  objection  on  the  part  of  European  nations,  and  has 
been  unanimously  sustained  by  our  people.  We  can  not  dis- 
avow a  policy  coincident  with  our  birth,  necessary  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Republic,  and  indispensable  to  any  form  of  gov- 


10  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

eminent  on  this  continent.  The  assertion  of  this  faith  has  been 
continuous,  but  the  opportunity  for  its  vindication  is  left  to 
our  choice.  No  acquiescence  in  such  invasions  which  is 
wrung  from  bitter  necessity,  whether  it  dome  from  official 
agents,  or  the  forced  expression  of  popular  consent,  will  here- 
after be  regarded.  "We  can  scarcely  suppress  the  belief  that 
our  troubles  have  been  magnified,  if  not  excited,  by  partisans 
of  other  governments ;  but  that  political  convulsions,  stimu- 
lated by  such  agencies,  can  be  made  available  for  the  founda- 
tion of  new  and  dangerous,  if  not  hostile  governments  upon 
our  borders,  is  incredible. 

TiVe  will  regard  as  sacred  the  rights  of  other  nations  on  this 
continsat^r^ejsjwhexe^j^j^^  it  is 

necessary  to  repelinvasjonfor  the  purposeoTseifpreservation, 
we^  ought  not,  jya  this  day^ajJea^^^n^eaT^g^elie£  that 
the  people  who  have  the  power  and  understand  the  duty,  will 
hereafter  make  that  power  respected,  though  it  be  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  and  the  cost  of  blood. 

The  return  of  general  peace,  the  dissolution  of  armies,  the 
reconstruction  of  local  governments,  the  complete  and  perma- 
nent restoration  of  the  Union  in  its  integrity,  and  the  recon- 
ciliation of  combatants  whose  weapons  are  yet  hot  with  the 
breath  of  battle,  are  problems  fraught  with  more  important 
consequences  than  are  often  presented  to  the  mind  of  man. 
The  civilized  world,  appalled  by  the  sudden  outbreak  of  the 
rebellion,  the  magnitude  of  its  proportions,  and  the  sanguinary 
character  of  its  contests,  is  still  more  amazed  at  its  unexpected 
conclusion.  They  have  seen  that  the  maxims  of  state-craft 
which  European  writers  irreverently  style  "  the  laws  of 
nature  "  have  been  discarded  not  only  with  impunity,  but  in 
triumph.  The  predictions  of  self-styled  prophets  are  silenced, 
and  they  now  wait  impatient  to  know  if  it  is  within  the  scope 
of  human  capacity  to  bring  into  harmonious  personal  and 
political  relations  these  barbarian  American  gladiators.  Truly, 
such  problems  and  such  a  spectacle  are  without  parallel  in 
history. 

In  what  form  shall  government  be  reestablished,  and  in 
whose  hands  shall  political  power  be  vested  ?  To  the  first  in- 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 


11 


quiry,  on  all  sides  the  answer  is  immediate  and  unanimous. 
Tl^  republican  forni  of  governmen^which  represents  the 
ma-vim's  "nfjjTir  H'at'hgrs^tjiat  the  "authority  of  the  government 
is  tlgjTved  from  the  consent  of  thegoyj 
equal  to  the"~E5rrfbte—  em€rgencTes_of_the  age^  jmd  jnusi-be 
mam£ain£3T~"~J:Ehis-43H^  and  unanimous  deter- 

mination of  thirty  million  people.  "What,  then,  is  to  be  the 
destiny  of  the  subdued  combatants  \  From  what  hand  and 
from  whose  inspiration  shall  spring  the  restored  institutions  of 
the  country  ?  I  cherish  no  feeling  of  revenge.  "  Yengeance 
is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  God,  and  verily  I  will  repay  it."  The 
command  is  no  less  holy  than  wise.  But  the  right  of  self1 
preservation  has  been  given  to  us,  and  we  are  false  to  our 
country,  to  ourselves,  to  the  age  in  which  we  live,  and  to  our 
successors  in  government,  if  we  fail  to  assert  this  right,  and 
exercise  this  power.  Those  who  engaged  injhosjilejmdjirmed 
contest  against  us  ano^  our_gQvernmentrwho  battled  against 
the^flag  of  the  TJnion^under  a  fugitive  Jlag_ofjiheir  own,  un- 
fnrlerTtii  dishonor.,  ami  axlJli^M 


inpart,  at  least,  to  live  with  us, 
and  share  the  destiny  ofou£]comtonDLTJcnnitfy\     "^hjrjaaj 


they  not  asso^ale_wtfiPus,  or  we  with  them,  as  peacefully^as  ____ 
Englishmen  with  English  men,  or  Frenchmen  'with  'Frenchmen, 
whose  countries,  like  our  own,  have  been  saturated  with  the 
blood  of  brothers,  shed  in  the  unhallowed  contests  of  social 
and  civil  war  ?  Why  may  we  not  go  further  than  other 
nations,  and  welcome  them  to  the  prosperity  and  peace  that 
is  the  fruit  of  restored  government  and  successful  industry,  or 
even  leave  to  them  or  their  heirs  the  elender  remnants  of 
private  property  that  outlive  the  great  struggle  ?  ^Napoleon, 
in  a  constitution,  prepared  by  his  own  hand  for  the  first  em- 
pire, declared,  that  punishment  by  confiscation  of  property 
was  "  abolished  as  an  absurdity."  Chateaubriand  urged,  that 
it  was  a  right  of  conquest  alone,  which  a  nation  ought  never  to 
exercise  upon  itself.  I  do  not  know  who  is  better  able  to  ad- 
vise us  upon  such  questions  than  those  leaders  of  revolution 
and  dynastic  right,  the  man  of  destiny  and  the  genius  of  peace. 
If  we  appeal  to  the  results  of  national  experience,  what  better 
illustration  than  that  of  France,  whose  soil,  in  six  civil  wars, 


12  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

has  been  saturated  with  the  blood  of  her  children,  and  whose 
constitution  now  is  a  perpetual  witness  to  the  inefficacy  of 
confiscation.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  property  of  those  lately 
arrayed  against  us,  may  be  wisely  and  justly  appropriated  to 
the  uses  of  the  government  itself,  or  to  the  support  of  disabled 
soldiers  and  sailors,  or  the  education  and  protection  of  the 
children  of  men  who  have  fallen  in  battle.  But  may  we  not 
question,  in  the  presence  of  other  advantages,  more  certain 
and  immediate,  the  necessity  of  a  general  system  of  confisca- 
tion, which  can  be  made  available  only  by  government  sales 
to  speculators  in  doubtful  titles,  at  nominal  prices,  to  sell  and 
resell,  at  criminal  advances,  to  innocent  parties,  who  may  be 
called  upon  to  defend  their  possessions  with  their  lives  or 
their  blood  ?  History  warns  us  of  the  frequent  recurrence 
of  revolution  and  rebellion  from  prolonged  and  general  ex- 
propriation of  property.  There  are  other  methods  of  punish- 
ment more  immediate  and  effective.  Would  it  not  be  wiser 
to  tax  such  property;  productive  or  unproductive,  in  such 
manner  and  to  such  extent,  as  to  compel  the  division  of  large 
estates,  or  sales  to  small  cultivators,  than  to  entail  upon 
innocent  purchasers,  under  general  laws  of  confiscation,  a 
social  war,  such  as  has  scarcely  ever  failed  to  culminate  in 
customary  and  ruthless  assassination  ?  I  enter  no  protest 
against  this  policy.  Cheerfully  I  accept  and  support  that 
which  is  deemed  best  for  the  country.  I  simply  suggest  that  if 
it  be  safe,  I  can  so  far  repose  confidence  in  the  good  faith  of 
those,  whom,  with  my  comrades,  I  have  met  in  battle,  as  to 
welcome  them  back  to  any  position,  consistent  with  the  safety 
of  the  government,  that  does  not  invest  them  with  the  control 
of  public  opinion.  I  am  willing  to  share  with  them  the  op- 
portunities to  retrieve  shattered  fortuiiesjhat  are  open  to  us  : 
but  their  righTto~Te§um"e  politicaFpower,  to  control  th?  destin- 
ies of  the  nation,  ur  lo  decide  \vhaT~questions  have  been  solved 
by  the  war,  I  solemnly  deny,  as  being  alike  destructive  to 
them  and  to  us.  Except  the  right  of  government,  which  they 
have  forfeited  by  high  crimes,  I  waive,  if  necessary  and  ex- 
pedient, all  question,  and  welcome  them  to  whatever  fortune 
Providence  may  have  in  store  for  us.  But  I  deny  their  right 
4odirect_the^j:p,organ  i  zationpf  government.  T~3eny~their 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS.  13 

demand  for  instantaneous  restoration  to  political  power.  I  do 
not  consent  to  the  admission  of  ten  rebel  States  to  the  Union, 
as  a  unit,  under  the  lead  of  men  who  will  endeavor,  as  of  old, 
to  divide  the  North ;  to  force  reclamations  upon  the  govern- 
ment for  property  destroyed  in  the  war  they  waged ;  to  compel 
the  recognition  of  their  debt  or  the  repudiation  of  our  own, 
or  what  is  more  likely,  the  consolidation  of  both ;  who  will 
attempt  in  every  national  controversy,  with  enemies  at  home 
or  enemies  abroad,  to  hold  us  at  their  mercy,  and  proifer 
support  or  threaten  destruction,  as  we  accept  their  counsel  or 
reject  their  policy. 

WJiat  is  our  duty  then  ?  Clearly,  most  clearlyT  to  leave  to 
Him  vehg;eance^wjiich_js  Hispiiit_to_jnaintain  for  ourselves 
that  protection  which  is  ours.  I  am  amazed  to  see  how  many 
of  our  people  are  entirely  absorbed  in  the  question  of  the  dis- 
posal* of  the  person  of  the  late  President  of  the  rebel  States. 
I  know  perfectly  well  that  it  is  law,  human  and  divine,  that 
man  shall  suffer  for  crime  ;  that  public  example,  the  welfare 
of  the  people,  requires  that  crime  shall  not  be  committed  with 
impunity,  and  that  a  case  like  this  calls  for  summary  and 
terrible  punishment.  If  it  be  necessary,  to  restrain  enemies 
hereafter,  I  am  silent.  It  may  be  wise  in  us  to  exercise  a 
magnanimity  in  the  treatment  of  our  enemies,  of  which  no 
state  in  Christendom  affords  an  example.  It  is  a  question  less 
political  than  moral.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  wisdom 
that  urges  the  sacrifice  of  leaders,  and  is  silent  upon  the  restor- 
ation to  official  power  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  followers, 
who  will  make  their  blood  the  seed  of  a  new  church,  and  be- 
come self-styled  apostles  of  such  martyrs  ?  "What  matters  it 
to  us  if  the  chief  of  the  rebellion  and  a  score  of  others  expiate 
their  crimes  in  blood,  if  four  hundred  thousand  of  their  follow- 
ers in  arms  are  to  be  ^reinstated  in  their  ancient  political 
power  ?  What  care  we  whether  they  be  living  or  dead,  if 
their  army,  beaten  with  the  bayonet,  is  to  be  victorious  with  the 
ballot  ?  If  the  power  that  has  been  wielded  at  such  terrible 
sacrifice  of  treasure  and  of  blood,  is  to  go  back  unshorn  and 
unrestricted  to  the  same  agencies,  if  not  to  the  same  men,  that 
precipitated  the  war  upon  us,  and  who  even  now  claim  that 


14  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

the  status  of  the  negro  and  the  relation  of  the  States  to  the 
General  Government  are  yet  unsettled  questions  ? 

No  !  We  say,  on  the  other  hand,  that,  while  we  no  longer 
pursue  men  because  they  were  enemies,  while  we  disclaim 
all  desire  for  vengeance,  while  we  offer  to  receive  them  with 
kindness,  and  accord  to  them  all  privileges  consistent  with  the 
safety  of  the  nation  of  which  they  are  a  part,  we  must  deny 
them  temporarily,  not  permanently,  in  sorrow  not  in  anger, 
the  right  to  resume  the  political  power  they  abdicated,  or  to 
direct  the  reconstruction  of  the  government  they  madly  sought 
to  destroy.  All  other  questions  are  transitory.  This  alone  is 
vital.  With  this  reservation,  there  can  be  no  substantial 
obstacle  to  the  permanent  restoration  of  government,  or  to  the 
union  of  hearts  and  hands  in  the  North  and  the  South,  the 
East  and  the  West,  when,  as  it  has  been  already  said  in  words 
of  eloquence  touched  with  divine  wisdom,  and  addressed  to 
the  throne  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  the  flag  of  our  nation  will 
be  honored  throughout  our  country  by  all  her  children ! 

It  is  not  perhaps  necessary,  that  this  exclusion  shall  be  en- 
forced by  constitutional  or  legislative  enactments.  Such  pro- 
visions may  unnecessarily  perpetuate  contest.  Neither  is  it 
indispensable  rigidly  to  define  the  period  of  exclusion  of 
enemies  from  political  power.  It  is  enough,  if  in  the  primal 
organization  of  local  governments  we  are  firmly  protected 
against  the  revival  of  exploded  political  heresies,  and  the  re- 
storation of  unfaithful  public  agents. 

The  President  has  wisely  provided  in  his  general  proclama- 
tion of  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  that  those  engaged  in  the 
rebellion,  or  who  are  in  military  or  civil  duress,  shall  be  held 
incompetent  to  take  the  oath  of  amnesty,  except  upon  receiv- 
ing personal  pardon.  They  are,  of  course,  still  less  competent 
to  exercise  political  powers.  The  provisions  of  this  proclam- 
ation are,  in  my  judgment,  sufficient  to  maintain  the  peace 
of  the  country,  and  secure  the  great  objects  for  which  this 
terrible  war  has  been  waged.  We  may  well  pray  our  patriotic 
President,  to  adhere  firmly  to  these  infinitely  wise  provisions, 
and  to  enforce  their  observance,  and  while  he  accords  to 
those  so  lately  in  rebellion  a  majestic  clemency,  unknown  to 
other  nations,  and  an  opportunity  to  reform  their  opinions, 


GENERAL  BAJSTKS'S  ADDRESS.  15 

conquer  their  prejudices,  partially  atone  their  errors,  and  re- 
trieve their  fortunes,  he  will  reserve  and  leave  to  the  tried 
friends  of  the  Union  the  power  to  maintain  democratic  prin- 
ciples and  perpetuate  our  liberties.  Let  him  grant  us  this 
great  boon,  and  his  name  will  be  embalmed  in  the  affection  of 
his  people,  with  the  memories  of  WASHINGTON  and  LINCOLN. 
We  can  not  doubt  the  result.  The  clouds  that  are  passing 
over  us  can  not  endure.  The  intelligence  of  the  people,  as 
well  as  the  necessities  of  the  hour  will  protect  us  from  this, 
the  greatest  calamity  that  can  befall  the  nation.  Let  us  not 
be  misled  by  considerations  of  chivalrous  or  senseless  gener- 
osity, so  far  as  to  entail  upon  our  successors  greater  evils  even 
than  we  have  suffered.  The  immediate  and  unrestricted  re- 
storation of  the  late  opponents  of  the  government  to  political 
power,  will  inevitably  invite  a  renewal  of  a  contest  that  can 
not  again  terminate  in  mercy,  but  will  be  pursued  on  either 
side  to  the  point  of  destruction  and  extermination. 

We  find  in  the  accession  of  several  million  people  to  the 
Union,  whose  freedom  has  not  before  been  recognized  by  the 
Constitution  or  Government,  another  interesting  and  import- 
ant national  problem.  The  war  has  been  unparalleled  in  its 
character,  its  intensity,  its  struggles,  its  victories,  and  in  its 
momentous  results.  Four  million  free  people  now  receive  our 
salutations  for  the  first  time.  Their  advent  to  freedom  equals 
in  importance  and  in  numerical  strength  the  emancipation  of 
the  people  of  the  Kevolution.  The  recognition  of  their  liberty 
imposes  corresponding  duties.  When  Louisiana  was  acquired, 
it  was  agreed  as  a  condition  of  the  purchase,  that  the  people 
should  be  admitted  to  the  honor,  and  invested  with  the  rights 
and  powers  of  citizens.  When  Florida  was  purchased,  a 
similar  result  followed,  and  at  a  later  day,  Texas  obtained  the 
same  advantages.  The  question  of  fitness  or  capacity  of  the 
people  for  self-government  was  not  raised,  except  in  connection 
with  the  acquisition  of  territory.  The  principle  being  es- 
tablished, that  it  was  competent  and  expedient  to  acquire  new 
territorial  possessions  with  large  populations,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  provide  political  institutions  for  the  States,  and  to  con- 
fer political  powers  upon  the  people. 


16  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

If  it  was  expedient  to  invest  less  than  fifty  thousand  people 
of  Louisiana,  imbued  with  strong  national  predilections  of  the 
French  and  Spanish  inhabitants  for  monarchical  forms  and 
aristocratic  ideas,  which  they  were  enabled  to  impress  to  some 
extent  upon  the  constitution  of  1812,  (Monette's  Val.  Miss.,  II., 
p.  516,)  or  to  confer  political  rights  upon  the  small  populations 
of  Florida  and  Texas  as  a  consequence  of  their  admission  to 
the  Union,  who  can  say  that  four  million  emancipated  people 
heretofore  only  enumerated  as  a  part  of  the  three  fifths  of  "  other 
persons  "  not  free,  in  order  to  swell  the  representative  power  of 
free  people  recognized  by  the  Constitution,  ought  not  perform 
the  duties  and  enjoy  the  rights  of  citizenship.  Our  Govern- 
ment rests  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed.  It  is  the  funda- 
mental maxim  upon  which  its  broad  superstructure  stands. 
This  principle  requires  that  those  who  have  the  capacity  shall 
be  permitted  to  participate  in  shaping  the  destiny  of  the 
nation.  From  the  operations  of  this  rule,  no  class  is  excluded 
as  of  right.  Minors  and  women  and  some  other  classes  of  people 
do  not  vote,  because  it  is  agreed — some  limitation  being  neces- 
sary, as  a  matter  of  convenience,  rather  than  of  right — that  the 
sense  of  the  people  shall  be  expressed  by  other  agents.  There 
is  nothing  better  established  than  that  this  principle  of  exclu- 
sion is  based  upon  consent. 

The  judicial  determination  of  questions  of  law  and  of  fact 
requires  the  consent  of  the  people  oi  the  vicinage  where  such 
questions  arise.  It  is  agreed  that  twelve  persons  shall  consti- 
tute the  vicinage  or  country,  and  be  invested  with  power  to 
pronounce  its  decisions.  But  that  great  power  is  conferred 
by  consent  as  a  matter  of  convenience  and  not  of  absolute 
right.  Minorities  in  administration  are  governed  upon  an 
assumed  consent,  founded  upon  and  nullifying  their  express 
dissent  to  its  agents  and  measures.  Peaceful  and  permanent 
democratic  government  is  impracticable  except  upon  this  basis. 
A  general  and  cheerful  consent  is  accorded  on  the  part  of 
women  and  minors,  but  is  yielded  reluctantly  by  minorities, 
often  with  admitted  injustice. 

"We  can  not  restrict  the  operation  of  a  fundamental  axiom  of 
Government  because  we  do  not  like  the  party  to  which  it  may 
be  applied.  We  can  not  change  the  character  of  events  because 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS.  17 

we  do  not  choose  to  recognize  them.  The  prerogative  of  prin- 
ciple is  that  it  subordinates  prejudice  to  truth.  If  we  hope  to 
attain  the  unity  and  power  to  which  thirty  million  people  are 
entitled,  we  must  accord  to  all  its  loyal?  industrious  ami  capable 
freemen  the  benefit  of  the  principles  represented  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  impracticable  permanently~fo~excitide  from  a 
participation  in  its  affairs  large  masses  of  people,  guilty  of  no 
crime,  upon  whom  industrial  prosperity  depends.  The  prin- 
ciple is  sufficient  to  secure  the  recognition  of  their  rights,  but 
any  defect  in  its  operation  will  be  compensated  by  the  power 
of  the  claimants.  The  consent  of  four  million  free  people, 
upon  whom  the  staple  agriculture  of  the  country  depends,  to 
a  perpetual  exclusion  from  rights  exercised  by  all  other  classes, 
will  never  be  given.  It  is  neither  probable  nor  possible.  If 
the  parties  immediately  interested  waive  their  claim,  others 
will  assert  it.  ~No  indifference  on  their  part  will  suppress  dis- 
cussion. 

The  inequality  of  representation  guaranteed  to  the  citizens 
of  the  South  by  the  Constitution,  which  enables  them  to  exer- 
cise, in  addition  to  their  own,  the  power  of  two  million  four 
hundred  thousand  "  other  persons,"  who  never  consented  to 
and  were  never  consulted  in  the  affairs  of  the  Government, 
was  the  cause  of  the  war.  But  for  this  inequality  of  repre- 
sentative power,  all  questions  connected  with  our  domestic 
politics  could  have  been  settled  without  delay,  difficulty,  or 
bloodshed.  And  now,  when  this  class  of  "  other  persons  "  has 
ceased  to  exist,  is  it  possible  either  to  exclude  four  million  free 
people  from  any  political  recognition  whatever,  or  to  perpetu- 
ate a  greatly  aggravated  inequality  of  that  system  of  repre- 
sentation, which  has  already  incarnadined  the  continent  with 
the  best  blood  of  the  land  ?  How  much  more  improbable  is 
it,  that  the  people  who  have  suffered  from  the  representation 
of  three  fifths  of  "  other  persons  "  should  now  consent  to  a 
representation  of  the  whole;  that  three  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  white  people  of  Louisiana,  according  to  the  census  of 
1860,  should  now  be  invested  with  the  power  of  seven  hun- 
dred thousand ;  or  that  eight  million  people  of  the  confederate 
States  can  long  be  permitted  to  exercise  the  power  of  twelve 
millions  ? 

2 


18  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDEESS. 

This  principle  is  not  applicable  to  those  who  have  forfeited 
their  rights  by  acts  of  violence  against  the  laws  or  against  the 
Government.  The  conditions  of  pardon  and  the  stipulations 
of  surrender  are  the  limit  of  their  right,  which  is,  to  live  undis- 
turbed under  the  laws.  To  this  the  faith  of  the  Government 
is  irrevocably  pledged.  To  attempt  its  evasion  would  be  last- 
ing and  irreparable  dishonor,  but  to  reestablish  them  in  politi- 
cal power,  especially  if  it  be  for  the  purpose  of  proving  to  the 
world  that  they  have  suffered  nothing  in  institutions  or  policy, 
except  from  the  casualties  of  war,  and  committed  no  error  ex- 
cept in  the  method  of  contest  and  the  choice  of  battle-ground, 
is  not  their  right  ;  it  was  never  to  them  stipulated  ;  it  can  not 
be  accorded,  and  if  it  were,  it  can  never  by  them  be  exercised, 
for  it  is  against  nature  as  against  right. 

In  another  aspect,  this  conclusion  is  still  more  irresistibly 
forced  upon  us.  Three  fifths  of  the  unskilled  laborers  of  the 
nation  are  pf^La^las8_nawfirstLrejeognized  as  -a^part  of  its  free 
population.  It  is  not  in  human  power  for  any  nation  to  make 
available  to  its  fullest  extent  the  labor  of  its  industrial  classes, 
except  upon  condition  that  it  satisfies  them  in  all  reasonable 
and  just  demands.  The  principle  is  even  broader  than  this, 
and  applicable  to  other  interests  than  labor.  The  paramount 
duty  and  interestof  all  governments,  despotic  or  democratic, 
is  to  respect  the  wishfiOSd^Batislylhe  demands  of  all  classes 

—  ----- 


J 

of  "people,  whenever  it  can 


principle  upon  which  the  government  is  founded.  An  eighth 
of  the  population  of  this  country,  unstained  by  crime,  having 
no  voluntary  connection  with  our  national  troubles,  identified 
with  its  agricultural  prosperity,  free  from  the  imputation  of 
permanent  or  general  incapacity,  a  population  that  has  lifted 
itself  from  slavery  to  freedom,  that  has  silenced  complaint  by 
heroic  endurance  of  suffering  and  wrong,  that  has  shared  in 
the  perils  and  glories  of  the  war  which  consecrates  their  free- 
dom forever,  and  now  demands  the  rights  attached  to  the 
condition  of  freedom  and  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Government,  can  not  be  successfully,  justly,  or  honorably  re- 
sisted. 

The  political  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  just  and 
wise  extension  of  this  fundamental  democratic  principle  upon 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDEESS.  19 

which  the  Government  is  founded  will  insure  its  success. 
Whatever  party  resists  its  extension,  the  opponents  of  that 
party,  from  necessity,  will  advocate  and  support  it.  The  Em- 
peror of  Russia  emancipated  his  serfs  to  strengthen  his  crown 
against  the  Russian  nobility.  France  declared  suffrage  uni- 
versal to  strengthen  the  imperial  dynasty  against  democracy, 
and  the  fathers  of  our  Republic,  acknowledged  the  political 
rights  of  the  people  as  a  protection  against  aristocracy  and 
royalty.  Considerations  of  partisan  and  political  advantage, 
public  necessity  and  national  justice,  can  not  fail  to  secure  the 
speedy  recognition  of  the  unquestioned  rights  of  all  classes  of 
loyal  people.  Whatever  condition  may  be  necessarily  annexed 
to  the  wise  exercise  of  this  power,  if  just  and  general,  can  be 
established  without  difficulty,  but  the  fundamental  right  can 
not  be  permanently  withheld. 

If  you  inquire  whether  the  emancipated  people  are  compe- 
tent to  the  exercise  of  this  power,  I  ask,  in  reply,  if  every 
Methodist,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  or  Catholic,  if  every  Demo- 
crat or  Republican,  is  qualified  in  all  respects  for  the  just 
exercise  of  the  proudest  right  ever  bestowed  upon  freemen  ? 
Was  every  man  that  gave  his  ballot  in  the  last  general  election 
a  fit  exponent  of  the  interests  of  the  people,  or  capable  of  direct- 
ing wisely  and  safely  the  destinies  of  the  nation  ?  Every  one 
must  answer  that  universal  fitness  is  scarcely  to  be  expected  ! 
Some  are  competent,  some  otherwise.  So  answer  we  for  the 
emancipated  Americans.  Some  are  qualified,  some  otherwise. 
Let  those  that  are  qualified  enter,  and  those  that  are  not,  would 
to  God  that  they  were !  If  we  make  capacity  a  test,  how 
shall  we  deny  the  right  of  those  whose  capacity  is  unquestion- 
able ?  Let  this  be  granted  and  the  cry  of  injustice  is  silenced. 
The  Government,  true  to  itself,  satisfies  all  classes  of  its  peo- 
ple by  adhering  to  its  principles,  and  thus  for  the  first  time  in 
its  history,  it  becomes  an  exponent  of  the  sublime  doctrine, 
that  the  truly  divine  authority  of  .the  government  rests  upon 
the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Intellectual  fitness  and  capacity  for  government  are  not  the 
only  tests  of  the  right  of  suffrage  or  participation  in  political 
affairs.  Fitness  and  capacity  are  the  attributes  of  the  whole 
rather  than  of  a  part.  It  is  the  concentrate  wisdom  of  the 


20  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

people  that  lias  carried  our  Government  through  all  its  perils 
to  its  present  prosperity  and  power.  You  may  draw  from  the 
intellectual  and  cultivated  population  a  tenth  or  a  quarter  even 
of  its  numbers,  and  not  debase  or  lower  the  standard  of  capac- 
ity represented  by  the  Government.  You  may  increase  by 
a  tenth  or  quarter,  if  you  please,  the  inexperienced  and  un- 
learned in  political  affairs, .  without  endangering  the  success 
of  republican  institutions. 

We  must  not  overlook  the  moulding  power  of  the  pulpit, 
the  press,  the  public  assembly,  the  courts  of  justice,  social 
gatherings,  the  silent  forces  of  government,  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, nor  the  million  secret  supernal  influences  that  operate 
with  equal  power  upon  the  minds  of  the  learned  and  un- 
learned. The  influence  of  the  pulpit  is  not  limited  to  its  con- 
gregation, nor  the  press  to  its  readers,  nor  the  courts  to  the 
condemned,  nor  conscience  to  those  who  cry  aloud.  We  must 
not  forget  the  influence  of  character  upon  crowds  of  men,  nor 
underrate  the  importance  of  the  natural  instincts  of  the  human 
heart,  which  direct  men  as  women,  in  moments  of  doubt  and 
peril,  to  the  paths  of  duty  and  safety. 

It  is  therefore  strictly,  logically,  philosophically  true  that 
fitness  and  capacity  for  government  are  rather  the  result  of  a 
concentration  of  powers  than  the  attribute  of  each  elector  that 
chooses  to  exercise  or  is  invested  with  the  rights  of  a  freeman. 
Public  opinion  moves  upon  grand  centres,  and  not  upon  tlie 
separate  axis  of  each  individual  that  composes  the  body  it  re- 
presents. All  the  passions  must  have  their  play,  and  all  the 
senses  contribute  to  the  general  good.  If  we  add  to  three  mil- 
lion Americans  invested  with  the  right  of  suffrage  a  quarter  or 
a  half  million  more,  who  fears  the  result  ?  (Cries  of  "  Nobody ! 
Nobody !")  Nobody,  unless  a  rebel !  It  may  be  death  to  him, 
but  it  is  life  to  the  nation !  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally 
true  that  if  you  withdraw  a  million  from  the  three  million 
American  voters,  whether  it-be  of  uneducated  or  educated  men. 
you  diminish  the  capacity  and  strength  of  the  people  for  demo- 
cratic government.  It  is  better,  as  every  man  knows,  that  all, 
rather  than  a  part,  should  be  represented  at  the  ballot-box. 
The  measures  of  Government  call  for  the  highest  individual 
wisdom,  but  its  spirit  and  purpose  may  be  safely  dictated  by 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDEESS.  21 

the  multitude.  All  are  wiser  than  a  part.  The  multitude  of 
men  in  any  nation  are  nearer  to  God  than  any  one  man  that 
represents  it.  There  is  more  of  his  spirit  and  power  in  the 
race  than  in  any  fragment  of  the  race,  whatever  may  be  its 
altitude  or  authority.  In  that  to  which  God  has  given  the 
fullest  share  of  his  wisdom  and  power  we  can  better  trust  than 
in  that,  whatever  may  be  its  capacity  or  elevation,  which  has 
a  less  perfect  endowment  of  his  creative  will.  The  ark  of  safety 
is  the  heart  of  the  people — the  instructed  heart  of  the  people — 
instructed  not'merely  in  catechism  and  spelling-book,  but  in 
love  of  God  and  faith  in  man.  It  is  the  height  of  excellence 
in  government  when' individual  genius  interprets  and  repre- 
sents the  sublime  justice  of  the  universal  heart.  And  who  shall 
say  that  the  four  millions  now  added  to  the  free  people  of  the 
nation,  as  it  were  by  a  new  birth — who  shall  say  that  their 
hearts  are  not  as  pure  and  loyal,  not  as  faithful  to  the  govern- 
ment as  any  other  class  ?  It  may  be  that  they  are  unlettered, 
that  they  can  not  decipher  the  mysteries  of  Egyptian  hiero- 
glyphics, or  thread  the  mazes  of  occult  science.  This  makes  a 
man  more  learned  than  wise.  So  far  as  the  exercise  of  politi- 
cal power  is  concerned,  which  intends  the  benefit  of  all — give 
me  an  honest,  fearless,  natural  man,  without  letters,  rather  than 
the  most  learned  man  who  knows  nor  cares  nor  thinks  of  the 
common  affairs  of  political  life.  The  questions  usually  sub- 
mitted to  the  people  when  subjected  to  the  last  analysis,  are 
of  the  simplest  character.  Generally  the  selection  of  the  wisest 
men  is  the  best  solution  of  the  most  difficult  political  problems. 
In  our  time  it  is  reduced  to  a  question  between  enemies  and 
friends  of  the  Government.  "Who  doubts  that  in  this  the  in- 
terests of  the  emancipated  classes  will  lead  them  to  right  con- 
clusions ?  I  know  no  scholastic  training  that  better  fits  a  race 
to  decide  such  questions  than  a  servitude  of  two  hundred  years, 
followed  by  emancipation,  instantaneous  and  universal,  conse- 
quent upon  their  participation  in  a  glorious  and  successful  war. 
To  this  extent  at  least  any  one  of  them  can  be  trusted.  For 
the  more  difficult  questions  of  the  future,  we  may  depend  upon 
the  great  experiences  of  the  future.  Let  us  not  forget  that 
many  of  the  disfranchised  people  have  received  the  best  cul- 
ture that  European  institutions  afford,  and  that  TWENTY  THOU- 


22  GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 

SAND  EMANCIPATED  CHILDREN  in  this  State  alone,  with  a  success 
that  surpasses  all  results  known  of  progress  in  elementary  edu- 
cation, each  of  whom  becomes  in  turn,  like  Bacon,  a  propa- 
gandist for  the  "  advancement  of  learning,"  among  his  race, 
are  daily  becoming  better  fitted  to  meet  the  more  complicate 
but  far  less  important  duties  of  the  future.  I  do  not  distrust 
their  capacity. 

In  truth,  government  is  an  affair  of  habit  as  well  as  of  prin- 
ciple. It  is  pnJ^^hejLJJieyuQQ^prmrto  »  the~Exe3~iral3itsoTthe 
people  that  governments  are  wise  or  permanent,  and  when 
their  leaders  consider  what  can  be  done  as  well  as  what  ought 
to  be  done,  that  they  are  great  as  well  as  good.  In  the  matter 
of  habit,  the  emancipated  people  are  deficient  in  nothmg~that 
Is?e^ire^o7~5iithful  citizens.  Their  industrylias  been  in- 
contestably.ihe^'Basis  of  our  national 


^ 

confidence,  coura^,~en3urance,  and  general  fidelity  of  the  race 
have  been  confessed  by  the  partisans  of  the  Union  and  the  Con- 
federacy. With  habits  that  eminently  fit  them  to  become 
good  citizens,  and  a  capacity  that  is  certain  to  give  them,  im- 
mediately or  ultimately,  that  general  intelligence  which  is  re- 
quired, numbering  at  least  an  eighth  part  of  the  entire  people 
and  half  the  industrial  population,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  any  party  will  permanently  deny  them  the  rights  which 
they  persistently  and  justly  claim.  I  place  their  claim  upon 
general  considerations  of  national  expediency  and  justice,  and 
not  at  all  upon  those  of  party  policy.  It  is  hardly  possible  for 
us  to  predict  with  entire  certainty  what  would  be  their  course. 
As  against  those  whom  they  consider  oppressors,  they  would 
undoubtedly  act  with  the  friends  of  the  oppressed.  But  this 
individual  issue  is  not  likely  to  be  made.  The  question  for 
them  to  decide  will  be  whether  they  will  oppose  or.  sustain  the 
Government.  In  this  event  there  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt  as 
to  their  action.  They  will  sustain  the  Government.  It  re- 
quires a  high  order  of  capacity,  which  few  races  possess,  to 
make  a  successful  resistance  to  the  established  policy  of  a  great 
empire.  The  emancipated  people  can  not,  for  some  genera- 
tions at  least,  attain  this  elevated  standard  of  character.  The 
Government  may,  therefore,  reasonably  count  upon  their  sup- 
port. If  it  determine  upon  a  policy  favorable  to  the  South 


GENERAL  BANKS'S  ADDRESS. 


23 


and  the  restoration  of  rebels  to  power,  they  will  ultimately  be 
compelled  to  acquiesce  and  sustain  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the 
Government  sustains  the  principle  of  emancipation  and  the  re- 
organization of  systems  of  labor  in  harmony  therewith,  then 
it  is  certain  of  their  united  and  intelligent  support.  Our  duty, 
therefore,  is  to  make  the  Government  what  it  ought  to  be, 
and  to  accord  to  all  classes  of  its  people  their  rights.  In  this 
work  we  are  assured  of  their  cooperation  and  assistance.  But 
their  power  is  not  one  of  absolute  control.  If  three  million 
intelligent,  experienced,  patriotic  white  voters  can  not  make 
the  Government  what  it  ought  to  be,  the  addition  of  a  quarter 
million  of  newly  enfranchised  men  is  not'  likely  to  change  its 
destiny. 

I  repeat'  here  what  I  have  said  before  and  elsewhere.  No 
class  of  Americans  withwhom  I  have  been  brought  in  contact 
durlngthe  period^?j^e^~r^vjltltL^'J5eIterJunderstands  the 
difficulties'  of  th'eiFsituation  or  what  is  necessary  for  their~wel- 
fare^or  are  betterendowed  ^wrElTtlie  patteifce,  loyalty,  natural 
instinct  anTt^gowHseirse  which  ttieiFToIutionliemands,  than 
the  colored  people  of~the^3outlL  rsee"inJbhis" great  question 
not  merely  a  matter  of  choice,  a  subject  of  reflection,  or  a  case  of 
necessity,  but  a  providence  for  which  we  have  reason  to  be  as 
grateful  as  for  other  providences  of  God  It  is throughus  that 
four  millions  of  his  people  have  been  baptized  in  freedom^and 
are  now^to^e^ssljte^rin  the  ^erforaiance'^~tEeir~  duties  and 
admitted  to  their  rights. 

The  method  by  which  this  is  to  be  accomplished  is  of  small 
moment.  When  the  principle  is  established,  obstacles  will 
vanish,  prejudicesrwill  dLsrobe,~aad  methods-present  themselves. 
Whatever  is  to  be  done,  it  is  better  that  it  be  quickly  and  well 
done.  Our^way,  then,  to  permanent  peace,  prosperity,  and 
power  is  clear  and  open.  Without  it  our  course  is  tortuous 

*k^_ ^ -         -  -'  •-  *         I    — 

ami  uncertain,  and  our  career  darkness.  Therefore — interpret- 
ing the  cheerful  countenance  of  this  patriotic  assembly — to  the 
motto  chiseled  uponthe  granite  BnfrA1q.fni£g-A^ 
ished  national  structure,  UNION,  JUSTICE,  CoNrmENcS^t~aM 
those^other  words  inscribed  upon  your  banners  :  FKEEDOM  AND 
ENFRANCHISEMENT  FOR  ALL  !  Thus  the  motto  of  Louisiana, 
amended  by  the  people,  July  fourth,  1865,  shall  stand :  UNION, 


24  GENERAL  BAKKS'S  ADDRESS. 

JUSTICE,  CONFIDENCE,  FREEDOM,  ENFRANCHISEMENT  FOR  ALL  ! 
Better  maxim  I  do  not  know.     May  it  stand  forever  ! 

Fejjpw-Citizens,  I  have  trespassed  up_on_yj3ar-favor.  (Cries 
ofji£b*lon  1")—  1  can  not  leave  the  ^platform,  however  without 
the  addition  of  a  word  in  memory  of  the  lamented  patriotic 
President,  ABRAIIAM  LINCOLN.  The  condition  of  Louisiana 
at  this  day  gives  to  us  what  no  man  was  wise  enough  to  give 
us  before  his  death,  full  confirmation  of  the  wisdom  of  his  pol- 
icy. Hereafter  it  will  be  seen  and  acknowledged  of  all  men. 
If  to-day  a  Government  existed  in  this  State,  with  authority 
recognized  and  supported  by  the  Government  at  Washington, 
and  upheld  by  the  loyal  people  of  the  State,  all  the  questions 
I  have  discussed  would  have  found  a  satisfactory  solution. 
Many  a  returning  soldier  from  the  camps  of  the  enemy  would 
have  taken  his  place  cheerfully  and  voluntarily  under  its  ban- 
ner, for  he  would  exercise  the  choice  of  a  freeman  and  sustain 
our  national  flag,  or  go  to  the  support  of  some  other  more  con- 
genial than  our  own.  The  calamity  of  the  American  nation 
this  day  is,  that  there  exists  no  State  so  far  organized  and  so 
far  recognized  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  that 
we  can  say  to  returning  prisoners  of  war :  "Accept  or  reject  that 
which  the  people  and  the  Government  have  given  you."  When 
they  returned,  they  were  ready  to  make  this  choice.  A  major- 
ity of  them  would  have  sustained  [the  flag,  the  Government, 
and  the  principles  we  cherish,  and  the  balance  would  have 
done  as  they  say  old  people  do  in  that  paradise  of  perfect 
health,  the  Island  of  J^antucket,  "  move  to  other  climes,  or  dry 
up  and  blow  away." 

_dfiatk_has  de- 


prived  us  of  its  full  consummation — the  greatest  boon,  un- 
less  it  be~EEe~proclamation  of  emancipation — that  his  inspira- 
tion  vouchsafed  to  us.  Let  us  pray  to  God  that  if  he  be  look- 
ing down  upon  us  this  day — and  if  spirits  are  invested  with 
the  attribute  of  penetrating  the  clouds  that  cover  this  mundane 

|  sphere,  who  does  not  feel  that  the  sainted  President  is  mjnis- 

I  tering  to  us ? — l^tus  still  hope  that  from  a  higher  and  holier 
platform  than  even  Jie_occupied^  weTmaVJgTe^Tne  benenT  of 

\   InTguidance _and_be_led_tothe  accomplishment  of  hi^ jMrpbses 

\  declared'  to  us  on  earth  ! 


J 


J 


IH^V 


